Lunar New Year 2023 is just around the corner and with it comes a festive atmosphere full of feline graphics, music, and firecrackers. This special time of year reminds me of my experience five years ago when I was celebrating the holiday alone in a snowstorm. The memory sparks a light and I decided to examine that unforgettable feeling to create a unique Tet design experience – ‘Meowy Pleasure’. This holiday gift package distinctively illustrates not only this year’s mascot – a cat but also my gratitude to all foreign Vietnamese who are trying their best aboard.

As we ring in the New Year, I am tempted to avoid repeating the usual New Year design cliches to propose a fresh and exciting cats -2023 mascot. That was the time I fired up my neural engine and generated a new idea from my previous foreign student experience in Canada. Consequently, I realized that the white feline hair looks similar to the snow winds, and the bird murmuration in the sky (that somehow relates to the international student aboard). With a bit of coding, I tried to mimic the kitten hair with Perlin flow fields and applied it to the design system.

The spring flowers are redesigned with the metal cast effect to deliver a strange aesthetic. It is also my compliment to overseas Vietnamese’ efforts to overcome hardness and celebrate away from home. They are true heroes that deserve medals, neither gold-silver-bronze for last year’s achievements.
In this project, I experimented with white ink printing on foil paper to praise the brilliant courage of Vietnamese ex-pats, especially my friends. The metallic effect somehow applauded everybody for their last year’s endeavor to challenge difficulties that could pay off.

The typography exhibits the concept of traditional new year parallel verses that are vertically positioned and set in different typefaces alike a traditional tear-off calendar. All the festive wishes are also referred to as cat words (purfect (perfect), purty (pretty)…) to create a joyful yet funny message.

Let’s celebrate this Tet in a cold wind like powerful flowers blooming in the snow. Meow!!!